


(How To Get Caught In, Then Escape) A Series of Traps

by drinktea



Series: we're all a little magic here [2]
Category: Now You See Me (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Humor, NYSM2 OT4, and a dash of drama, but it's merritt what can you do, danny is a drama queen pass it on, post NYSM2, very irresponsible use of mentalism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-18 15:40:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8167186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drinktea/pseuds/drinktea
Summary: "This," Danny declares as majestically as he can, given the fact that he is currently upside down, "is stupid."-(Danny, Lula, Jack and Merritt go looking for a certain red-headed, sharp-witted, former Horseman. And really,  how it goes depends on who you ask.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> So, an origin story for this: once I brought it up in the ending of my last story, Eau de Sour Cream and Onion, I couldn't stop toying with the idea of the Horsemen looking for Henley. And then this was born! It could be read independently, but the Lula/Danny friendship really has its roots in my last story, so I'd encourage you to read that one first. It's funny, I promise. (Lula calls Danny a baby otter, if that's at all your cup of tea.)
> 
> That all said, the Horsemen are just a giant dysfunctional family and I love their dynamic, so I wrote it. I hope you enjoy!

♠

 

"This," Danny declares as majestically as he can, given the fact that he is currently upside down, "is stupid."

"Uh, whose idea was this in the first place?" her voice drifts to him. She's climbing the tree about ten feet away, ready to cut the ropes that have him hoisted and netted.

"Yours, I believe," he says, using his know-it-all voice. (And really, his know-it-all voice is actually his normal voice.)

"With the idea that it'd be for you!" she snaps back, digging through her pockets for her Swiss army knife. "Are you really criticizing my attempts to be a good friend?" _God_ , seriously. _This_ is what she gets for trying to make Danny's dreams come true?

"I'm not criticizing _you_ , I'm mad that we've hit so many freaking traps," he gripes, all while managing to right himself. "It's like the Eye is trying to mock us."

Her fingers finally land on her Swiss army knife, and she pulls it out triumphantly. Danny waves a hand, giving his okay for her to start cutting. "If it helps, I'm sure they're just trying to mock _you_ ," she says, slicing one rope out of about twenty. Yeah, this is going to take a while.

"Gee, no Lula, that doesn't help," he snipes. It's a lot less intimidating than it would be normally though, since he's currently picking dead leaf out of his clothes and mouth. (If she's being 100% honest though, Danny is about as intimidating to her as a two-toed sloth.)

She goes on cutting rope, utilizing her impressive balance to not fall off the branch she's perched on. "I mean, it only took you a year and a half to admit to yourself that you actually want Henley back in the Horsemen. I bet the Eye was just sitting around, placing bets on how long it'd take you to ask for their help."

Danny removes a leaf from his hood. Dryly, he says, "Hilarious. You're ever-so-funny."

She shrugs. "After all, the three of us had a betting pool," she goes on. Another rope gives.

"You _what_?" Danny says, kicking slightly. This only entangles his left ankle in the net though. The strain in his next words is very audible. "You and Merritt and Jack—you were all _betting_ on me?"

She moves onto the next rope—by her estimation, it'll just be a couple more until Danny's body weight causes the net to give. "Oh, yeah. Merritt won, of course. Stupid mentalism. I don't even know why I bet against him."

Danny grunts, engrossed in his current problem, when a voice calls to them from the forest floor—"Aww, are you two talking about me?"

She shoots a glance downward—God, does mentalism have an extended range or something? "Hey, Merritt. Tell Danny how accurate your bet was."

"I don't want to hear it—"

"I was off by three days!" Merritt calls proudly, projecting his voice with a cupped hand to his mouth. They're pretty high up, but she can still make out the self-satisfied grin he has on his face.

Danny points a finger accusingly in Merritt's direction. "You promised no mentalism without an advance warning."

Merritt throws his hands up. "Well how else was I supposed to make a bet without you knowing? Wouldn't be fair otherwise."

"It already wasn't fair," Jack's voice rings out now. He has a soft tread—she didn't hear any crunching of leaves. "What can I do? Cardistry it out of him?"

Danny interrupts, irate, "Can we all focus on the problem here? As in, I am hoisted ten feet above the ground in a rope net?"

Jack puts a hand to his chin. "Interesting how there are so many traps, isn't it? Almost like if we want to get to the escape artist, we have to escape a few traps ourselves." Earlier, Merritt had almost done a faceplant into a pitfall, but Jack had pulled him back. And about fifty feet back, Lula spotted a tripwire right in front of Jack's feet and stopped him from setting it off.

They're all genuinely stunned into silence by this revelation—

—which only makes it that much louder when Lula cuts the final rope, and Danny falls, net and all. He screams the whole way down. (Whoops. Probably should've given him some warning.)

Merritt catches him. Poorly, but still.

Danny leaps instantly out of Merritt's hold, uttering a quick thanks and probably trying to salvage his dignity. (He must be _really_ embarrassed because he doesn't even whip back around and nail her for letting him fall unannounced.) She begins the climb down as Jack gravitates toward her, spotting her. She jumps the last couple of feet, almost tackling him.

"Do you think that's why there are so many traps?" she asks Danny, trampling the quiet boldly underfoot. Being the newest Horseman has a few advantages, and this is most definitely one of them—the ability to talk about Henley as an excited admirer and not be judged for it. Also, her natural spunk means that she gets to say things to Danny that would normally make him really weird—like talking about his relationship with Henley.

"I can't believe I never considered it," Danny says by way of reply. "Good thinking, Jack."

Jack smiles quietly in his Jack way. God, he's so _freaking cute_.

"We have to think like Henley would," Danny goes on, looking around at the trees. "Where would Henley consider the safest place to be?"

She shrugs, not even pretending to think about it—after all, she doesn't know Henley personally. Luckily, Jack steps up right then, speaking to them all, "That's easy. She'd stay in the middle of it all. She's comfortable around traps."

Danny's eyes light up. "So we have to find the highest density of traps."

She feels her lips curl into a smirk right as an idea hits her. "And the best way to find a trap—"

"Is to fall into one," Merritt finishes for her, shoving Danny over.

Of course, he doesn't land in a trap. He does land on his hip though, now bruised. "What the hell, Merritt?" he snaps, throwing a hand out.

She steps forward to hoist him up while Merritt laughs. "Just thought that I'd give you a leg up on finding your lady love," he chuckles. Merritt always seems to be in his best moods when ragging on Danny, and she has to agree—there's something particularly satisfying about Danny's reactions. He's just so easy.

After searching for a while, it's obvious that the spread of traps is arbitrary. But she does get to see Danny's leg chomped by a fake bear trap and his giant over-reaction, so the afternoon is far from wasted in her opinion.

"We're not getting anywhere," Jack finally announces, and his weariness is a reflection on them all. It's almost dinner, and they're all hungry on top of being exhausted. "I say we try again tomorrow."

"I'm up for a big dinner," Merritt says, raising a hand like he's been called on in class.

She casts a silent look at Danny, who has been staring at the leaf-strewn forest floor for the past couple of minutes. "Danny?" she asks.

"You guys go. I'm going to keep at it," he says. He doesn't sound so much tired as he does determined, but also withdrawn. He swipes at his nose a bit.

"Don't need to tell me twice," Merritt says, looking off in the direction of the sun, falling in the sky and obscured behind a curtain of low-hanging clouds. He sets off. (Apparently, he's some kind of directional whiz that can find his way around anywhere if he's been there once; a remant of his younger, touring days. The rest of them make do with the GPS on their cell phones.)

She casts another look at Danny. He's turned his attention to a patch of forest that looks particularly dense, and which they haven't explored yet. She makes her choice without thinking.

"I'm staying with Danny," she says, looking to Jack.

Jack strides over to her and takes her hand. "Are you sure?"

"He needs the help, even if he doesn't know it," she tells him in hushed tones. "I'll see you back at the apartment." Then she plants a quick kiss on his cheek.

He kisses her back, nods, then gives Danny a wave. He turns around to catch up to Merritt's form, quickly disappearing through the yellow and orange of the woods.

When Jack is far enough away that he theoretically can't hear either of them, she turns to Danny.

"You didn't have to stay," he says, tucking his hands into his coat pockets.

She walks past him and toward the new frontier, feeling his eyes on her. She turns to face him, but continues moving backward. "Yeah," she says plainly, "I did."

And from this distance, she thinks that maybe—for a split second—she sees Danny smile.

"Alright," she says, taking charge and throwing her arm out into the fog, "I'm thinking that we check out that patch of forest."

Danny steps up next to her and actually puts a hand on her shoulder. "Just what I was thinking. You know, there's supposed to be a waterfall in that direction that seems great to hide behind."

She smiles at Danny—neurotic, perpetually over-thinking Danny—and for once, finds herself thinking he's onto something. "That actually doesn't sound so crazy."

He raises his eyebrows and gives her a smile that is downright _warm_. Then with his trademark sarcasm, he takes a small bow. "Thanks. I'll be here all night."

 

♠

 

She's not dramatic—she _really isn't, that's clearly Danny's department_ —but she feels herself legitimately stumble once she sees the sole occupant of the loft (which was, yes, behind the waterfall).

The space is big and open, clean whites and gold accents, with a big skylight letting in the watery mid-autumn light. The smell is distinctly feminine: fresh flowers sit in vases everywhere, along with the slight scent of perfume. Against the far wall is a huge bay window and accompanying bench, upon which sits a bevy of blankets, pillows and—

"Henley."

She turns abruptly—Danny has entered from behind her. He's staring at the figure silhouetted against the glass, and she's looking right back.

"Danny," she responds in kind. It might be her imagination, but Lula swears she hears a bit of sadness. This depth of emotion, expressed in just two words, feels private. She feels like a bumbling, awkward presence for what might just be the first time in her life.

"I'll just go," Lula utters so quietly that the words blend into one. She turns briskly, even sheepishly, around and heads for the door.

"Wait!" Henley calls out, "I'd like to meet you."

She turns back around, kind of awkwardly pivots on her heel, and says, "Really?"

Now, Henley stands, seeming to have regained her composure. She strides forward, and her steps are muted on the soft carpet. She's the only spot of colour in this place aside from the white and gold and grey—her hair is long, silken fire; her lips are painted in the most iconic red. "Of course. I've been watching you all. You're magnificent," she says, coming close enough that Lula can see her nails—also red.

Her girl-crush magnifies itself by ten. "Oh, _God_ _no_. You—you're like, Henley Reeves, y'know? I've seen everything you ever done," she blabbers—in reaction to her nerves or to cover them, she's not sure. "I mean, your showmanship inspired _me_ to take it too far, you know? Like, that pirahna trick was just... nuts," she chatters, wishing someone would interrupt her to shut her up.

In fact, there is a resounding amount of _quiet_ in the room, despite there being three people present. Henley is being terribly, _terribly_ attentive, eyes fixed determindedly on her. Danny's breathing has become uneven, hitching too often in weird places, and with how close they're standing it's all she can do to _not_ ask him, quietly, if he's okay.

Oh, fuck it.

"Are you okay?" she asks him discreetly out of the corner of her mouth.

But then, after a few moments of awkward quiet, she doesn't know why she thought she'd get an answer at all. Danny's cycling between staring at Henley and then darting his gaze at anything _but_ her. His fingers are twitching and he's not blinking, not at all. ( _Of course he's not okay_ , her brain supplies, _it's Henley_.)

He's always been a drama queen, Danny. But then, this situation is kind of dramatic in and of itself. How much history must lie between them? If half of the stuff Merritt told her was true, Henley had it pretty bad for Danny, but he never acknowledged her skill, and she left him to start her own career. Then when they finally met again on equal ground as Horsemen, they almost bridged the gap before Henley lost faith in the Eye and left again.

Studying Danny's profile, it's almost as if she can see all these things—and their attached emotions—running through his head. One second, his eyes are clear and present, and the next they're clouded over.

When he addresses her, he can barely look her in the eye. He asks, very softly, very _carefully_ —"Sorry, Lula. Could you go find the others?"

She gulps. She dares to look him full in the face. He's pale and his breaths are light.

Feeling timid and hating it with every ounce of her being, but bearing it because he needs her to, she says, "Yeah."

Out she walks. And with every step she takes, she feels the pull of them behind her, like a rope stretched taut to its very limit.

 _It'll be okay,_ she tells herself, casting one last look back at the door.

_Won't it?_

 

♠

 

— _fin_

_._

_._

_._

_?_


End file.
